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2018 primaries: Key takeaways as Democrats get a shock and Trump triumphs

Tuesday's primaries showed candidates can't take anything for granted, and while it helps to have President Donald Trump on your side if you're running as a Republican, having a record of bucking him isn't fatal.

2018 primaries: Key takeaways as Democrats get a shock and Trump triumphs

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old who's never held elected office, ousted New York City Congressman Joe Crowley. Crowley had been considered a candidate to become House speaker if Democrats win the majority in November. (June 27)
AP

Progressive challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrates with supporters at a victory party in the Bronx after upsetting incumbent Democratic Representative Joseph Crowly on June 26, 2018 in New York City.(Photo: Scott Heins, Getty Images)

Tuesday's primaries showed even top party leaders can't take support from their home turf for granted, and while it helps to have President Donald Trump on your side if you're running as a Republican, having a record of bucking him isn't fatal.

Elections were held Tuesday in Colorado, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma and Utah, and voters in runoff elections picked nominees in Mississippi and South Carolina. Here are the key takeaways:

Nobody's safe

She raised $300,000 to her opponent's $3.3 million, but it was enough for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's first run for office in a New York City district covering parts of Queens and the Bronx to defeat 10-term Rep. Joe Crowley and send shock waves through the House Democratic caucus.

President Trump crowed about the loss by Crowley, a sometimes bombastic critic of the president who was seen as angling to replace California Rep. Nancy Pelosi as the Democrats' leader in the next Congress.

Trump said on Twitter that maybe Crowley would have won if he had been "nicer, and more respectful, to his President."

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is embraced at the Tornillo-Guadalupe port of entry gate on June 24, 2018, in Tornillo, Texas, where she was protesting the separation of children from their parents after they were caught entering the U.S. under the administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy.(Photo: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

The Bronx-born Ocasio-Cortez, 28, was the first primary challenger Crowley had faced in 14 years. Her win comes as Democratic primaries around the country have seen scraps between the party's progressive wing and the Washington establishment.

“We meet a machine with a movement, and that is what we have done today,” Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday night, according to The Associated Press. “Working-class Americans want a clear champion and there is nothing radical about moral clarity in 2018.”

Ezra Levin, co-executive director of the Indivisible Project that supported Ocasio-Cortez, compared her win to the 2014 primary in which House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., was beaten by David Brat, a challenger propelled by the tea party movement.

"A new political era is dawning — and the rusting and reluctant political establishment will wake up or be woken," Levin said.

Pelosi said Crowley brought "principled, unifiying and forward-looking leadership" to the party's response to Trump and said the caucus "has been strengthened by his chairmanship."

Trump effect continues

Trump made it clear to supporters when he flew through a thunderstorm Monday night to lead a rally for Gov. Henry McMaster that if the governor was not nominated for another term, the "fake news" would take it out on Trump. South Carolina came through for the president, giving McMaster a win in a runoff against businessman John Warren.

Trump also endorsed New York Rep. Dan Donovan, who won his primary on Tuesday by defeating former Rep. Michael Grimm, who resigned in 2015 before pleading guilty to tax fraud and serving seven months in prison.

McMaster — whose support for Trump goes back to January 2016 — was in a runoff because in the June 5 primary he came up 8 points short of garnering the 50 percent-plus-one votes he needed to secure the nomination outright. Warren finished the primary with 28 percent and then was endorsed by two other candidates who had split most of the rest of the anti-McMaster vote.

President Donald Trump and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster at a campaign rally in Columbia, S.C., June 25, 2018.(Photo: MANDEL NGAN, AFP/Getty Images)

In that same June 5 primary, South Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Sanford, a former governor who had been critical of Trump, lost by 4 percentage points after a last-minute Tweet from Trump endorsed his opponent and said Sanford "has been very unhelpful to me" and "nothing but trouble."

Warren told voters he was more like Trump than McMaster, arguing that like the president he was "anti-establishment" and "anti-politician."

It was great being with Governor Henry McMaster last night in South Carolina. Henry is tough on Crime and Borders, loves our Military and our Vets and has created many jobs and a great economy. GO OUT AND VOTE FOR HENRY TODAY, HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!

Trump has had a mixed record in the primaries and special elections since he took office. He was embarrassed when Republicans in Alabama did not nominate the appointed senator he was backing, Luther Strange, setting up a race in which Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore. But Trump also traveled to West Virginia to appear with two candidates vying for the Senate nomination against a third he opposed, Don Blankenship, and Blankenship lost that race.

GOP is having an identity battle

While Crowley's loss was another sign of Democratic battles with their left wing, Republicans have similar conflicts with groups on the right.

The Club for Growth, a low-tax small-government group that frequently spars with House and Senate leaders, was spending money in primaries attacking candidates who were being attacked themselves bythe Congressional Leadership Alliance, a "dark money" group that the Club for Growth says is tied to Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

One example was the 4th District in South Carolina, where Rep. Trey Gowdy is retiring. The Club for Growth backed former state Sen. Lee Bright, so it spent more than $418,000 against his opponent, state Sen. William Timmons. CLF, meanwhile, spent more than $345,000 against Bright.

At a candidate forum hosted by The Greenville News, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, Timmons warned that if Bright were elected, "he is going to be on the front page of papers all over this planet.

“Businesses are not going to come here," Timmons said. "He is going to say things that y’all do not agree with. He is going to say things that embarrass you, and it is going to cause problems for the Upstate.”

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A woman casts a vote during a primary election at the North Lake fire station on June 26, 2018 in Irmo, South Carolina. The most notable race is a runoff election for the Republican nomination for governor with incumbent Henry McMaster going up against businessman John Warren. Sean Rayford, Getty Images

A statue of Abraham Lincoln watches over voters as they cast their ballots during at the Salt Lake County vote center in Trolley Square in Salt Lake City, Utah on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. Steve Griffin, The Deseret News, via AP

Eric Syverson, an intern at the Denver Elections Division, pulls a tray of ballots to be counted as they arrive at the elections headquarters early Tuesday, June 26, 2018, in Denver. Multiple statewide races are at stake in the primary election. David Zalubowski, AP

Election judge Richard Bettinger works as judges organize primary election ballots for counting as they arrive at the Denver Elections Division headquarters early Tuesday, June 26, 2018, in Denver. David Zalubowski, AP

A woman places her purse at her feet as she prepares to vote at a polling place, Tuesday, June 26, 2018, in Silver Spring, Md. Former NAACP President Ben Jealous and Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker lead a crowded Democratic gubernatorial primary field to win a nomination to face popular Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in the fall. Patrick Semansky, AP

Mitt Romney looks under the hood of a 1928 Model A Ford Roadster following a campaign breakfast stop at Sill's Cafe Tuesday, June 26, 2018, in Layton, Utah. Utah's primary election will give former GOP presidential nominee Romney a second chance to dispatch of state lawmaker Mike Kennedy who defeated him at the party convention in his bid replace retiring U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch. Rick Bowmer, AP

Merrill Nordstrom votes during a Mississippi primary at the Oxford Conference Center in Oxford, Miss. on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. A relative handful of voters could choose Mississippi's Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate and the Republican nominee for a U.S. House seat. Bruce Newman, The Oxford Eagle, via AP

U.S. Rep. Daniel Donovan waves after voting in the Staten Island borough of New York, Tuesday, June 26, 2018. New York City's only Republican congressman, Donovan, will try to hold off a fierce challenge in the state's primary election Tuesday from former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, who is trying to make a political comeback after serving prison time for tax fraud. Seth Wenig, AP

Former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm votes at an elementary school on primary day June 26, 2018 in the Staten Island borough of New York. Grimm is running in the Republican Congressional primary for the 11th Congressional District against incumbent Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY). Drew Angerer, Getty Images

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Can Democrats mend fences?

Numerous Democratic primaries for House seats, some in districts where the party believes the Republican incumbent is vulnerable in November, saw campaigns where liberal groups and the party's establishment backed opposing candidates.

There were wins for both sides on Tuesday. The big question they face going forward is whether they can unite after the primary.

In Colorado's 6th District, Democrats have their sights on Republican Rep. Mike Coffman, who won in 2016 even as Hillary Clinton won by 9 percentage points in the district. He'll face Iraq veteran Jason Crow, whose support from Washington leaders became a rallying cry for the left after an opponent, Levi Tillemann, released a secret recording he made of House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer asking him to get out of the race.

But the forces on the left had a victory in New York's 24th, where Republican Rep. John Katko won two years ago even as Clinton beat Trump by 4 points. Syracuse University professor Dana Balter was the candidate backed by progressive groups and local party leaders and won the primary against Juanita Perez Williams, who was getting help from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Pointing to Balter's win and Ocasio-Cortez's defeat of Crowley, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee issued a statement saying New York's elections showed there is a "battle for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party."

"The best way to excite voters is to run bold, progressive, younger, more diverse candidates who connect with their constituents — not old school candidates running establishment campaigns or who are fueled by corporate money," the PCCC said.

Mitt Romney looks under the hood of a 1928 Model A Ford Roadster following a campaign breakfast stop at Sill's Cafe on June 26, 2018, in Layton, Utah.(Photo: Rick Bowmer, AP)

Crossing Trump not always fatal

Elections on Tuesday also showed that criticizing Trump or opposing his policies is not always fatal in Republican primaries.

Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of heavily Democratic Maryland charted a careful course with Trump, speaking out against him at times, most recently when he pulled back state National Guard personnel to protest the "no tolerance" policy at the border that led to the separation of thousands of migrant children from their families.

Despite that, Hogan was nominated without a primary challenger Tuesday.

And Mitt Romney, the 2012 presidential nominee, was nominated for U.S. Senate in Utah despite being a leading voice of the "never Trump" effort in the GOP in June 2016 and saying Trump "caused racists to rejoice" by saying there was blame "on both sides" for violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, last summer.

In an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune over the weekend, Romney said he would "support the president's policies when I believe they are in the best interest of Utah and the nation" but "will continue to speak out when the president says or does something which I believe is divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions."